Chuck Crick, Jr. screws plywood over the doors and windows of homes in Pleasant Ridge where residents were evicted after landlords sold to a developer. "I boarded up my own house a month after I moved out of it," Crick said. "A lot of people say I'm working for the enemy, but you got to work. I lived in my van for two weeks." Crick, like many renters in Pleasant Ridge, are simply doing what they must to get to whatever is next. "It's sad, but it's life I guess. I'm not sure where a lot of these people will go, but what can you do." May 9, 2017(Photo: Alton Strupp/Louisville Courier Journal)Buy Photo

A Southern Indiana city claimed victory in a nationally watched property-rights dispute Monday, saying an appellate court ruling lifts restrictions on its ability to inspect homes and issue fines in a low-income neighborhood.

But the Pleasant Ridge Neighborhood Association, which alleges in a lawsuit that the city of Charlestown has conspired with a developer to run residents out, also said it had won, pointing to the court's ruling that the city needs to follow state law when it enforces its property maintenance code.

The ruling is the latest development in the lawsuit filed by the neighborhood association in January 2017 alleging that city officials had used a “code enforcement scheme” to levy fines and force property owners to sell.

Charlestown officials have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. In testimony last September, Mayor Bob Hall said he did nothing wrong in trying to help remove a "low-rent" neighborhood that can attract people "who are not contributing to society."

As it levied fines against residents of the Pleasant Ridge neighborhood, Charlestown cited both the Indiana Unsafe Building Law and its own property maintenance code.

While some of the law's and code's provisions were the same, others were different, leading to confusion.

In a unanimous ruling, the Court of Appeals of Indiana found that the city's code still has legal force but cannot be enforced in a way that's inconsistent with the state's building law.

The appeals court found that the Clark Circuit Court "clearly erred in finding that the city is not required to follow" the unsafe building law because the city has adopted the law.

In December 2017, the lower court had ruled that Charlestown wasn't required to follow the unsafe building law, though if it were, it would be out of compliance. It also granted the homeowners association a preliminary injunction to stop the city from enforcing its property maintenance code.

The city appealed the injunction, and the homeowner association appealed the finding that the city wasn't bound to the unsafe building law.

Monday's Court of Appeals opinion reversed the injunction and sent the case back to the circuit court, where specially appointed Scott County Judge Jason Mount has presided over the case.

The appellate judges said the lower court will now have to weigh how the state law and the city's property code work together and re-evaluate the homeowners' claim that the city's code enforcement violates the state law.

“Today’s opinion is another rebuke to the city of Charlestown’s reckless disregard for state law,” said Anthony Sanders, senior attorney with the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, which is representing the Pleasant Ridge association.

In a news release, Sanders pointed to a number of protections homeowners receive under the state's unsafe building law.

"The city has wantonly ignored those protections through issuing immediate fines against property owners in its illegal quest to force them to sell.”

Michael Gillenwater, an attorney for the city, said the city views Monday's ruling as a victory and that it "is free to continue enforcing its property maintenance code and that the court-imposed limits on issuing, collecting and waiving fines are no longer in effect."

Sanders said the reversal of the injunction was a technicality and said he expects it to be reinstated by the lower court.

Reporter Matthew Glowicki can be reached at 502-582-4989 or mglowicki@courier-journal.com. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/mattg.